39th People’s Gala & Demonstration £1

CHESTERFIELD TRADES COUNCIL Monday 2nd May 2016 ASSEMBLE: Town Hall 10.30am RALLY: New Square 11.45am DEMONSTRATION Assemble at CHESTERFIELD TOWN HALL at 10.30am March Off at 11.00am (See inside of back cover for route)

RALLY NEW SQUARE: 11.45am Speakers: Tosh McDonald President Amalgamated Society of Locomotive Engineers & Firemen Jane Loftus President Communications Workers Union Toby Perkins MP for Chesterfield Raya Ziyaei Refugee Solidarity Campaigner

MAY DAY at a GLANCE 9.00am - 4.00pm Stalls and Entertainment in New Square 10.30am March Assembles 10.45am Jill Brunt will address the marchers from the Town Hall Steps on “Women, Austerity and Pension Poverty” 11.00am March Off 11.45am Rally & Speeches in New Square 1.00pm Sheffield Socialist Choir in Market Hall Assembly Rooms 12.30pm - 4.00pm Live Entertainment in New Square (page 18-19) 12.30pm Faith and Branko 1.40pm Bikini Beach Band 2.50pm Bleeding Hearts “Folk-Punk for Punk-Folk”

2 Contents Page Welcome to Chesterfield’s 2015 May Day Event 4 - 5 Tosh McDonald 6 - 8 Jane Loftus 9 - 11 Raya Ziyaei 12 - 13 Toby Perkins 14 - 15 South Yorkshire Freedom Riders 16 - 17 FREE Concert in New Square 18 - 19 A Cooperative Manifesto for Chesterfield - a work in progress 20 - 21 Chesterfield’s other anti-war MP 22 - 24 International Solidarity in the Great Miners' Strike 25 - 26 Unite in Sports Direct - Shirebrook Project 28 - 29 Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team’s Panel Solicitors 31 Shock deaths amongst former Staveley Chemical workers 32 Asbestos: The hidden threat in many school buildings 33 May Day Route 35 The People’s Anthems 36

Chesterfield May Day Gala would like to thank Ruane Transport of Chesterfield for the use of their trailer in New Square.

Leading the march this year The Ireland Colliery Band

3 Welcome to Chesterfield’s 2016 May Day march and ralley The sight of David Cameron returning to Downing Street just days after our May Day rally in 2015 came as a blow. Back in office, the Tories have redoubled their austerity measures singling out the most vulnerable for attack. In the immediate aftermath of the election many in our movement felt on the ropes. However, we have seen signs of recovery, against difficult conditions, in the trade union movement, in social movements and in the political field. The Labour Party leadership election James Eaden, President Chesterfield & District TUC campaign and the decisive victory of migrant workers. Inspired by Jeremy Corbyn reflected and helped to successful campaigns overseas in the galvanise a growing shift towards left USA and New Zealand (where the wing ideas and values in Britain, government has just outlawed zero especially amongst young people. The hours contracts) the Bakers Union has “Corbyn phenomenon” is not unique launched a Fast Food Rights campaign to the UK; we can see its echoes in the focusing on young workers in this insurgent campaign led by Bernie exploitative industry. They are already Sanders in the US and in the chalking up some real successes and development of new left forces in we welcome their organisers at this countries like Greece, Spain and year’s May Day. Ireland. The key to the rebuilding of our movement is to harness this energy The struggle of the Junior Doctors, and enthusiasm. against the imposition of an “unfair and unsafe” contract has been a revelation Zero hours contracts and agency and an inspiration. The level of the working blight many workers lives. public support for the doctors’ action is Tireless campaigning by Unite has put phenomenal, as seen on strikes days, real pressure on Sports Direct, and in with members of the public queuing to this brochure Cheryl Pidgeon outlines sign their petition in town. This their innovative campaigning work campaign goes to the heart of which both challenges the company’s defending the NHS, which the Tories employment practices, and seeks to are hell bent on destroying. undermine divisive racism faced by

4 We once again welcome Toby Perkins outpouring of solidarity and support. to our stage. Toby always shows great But we have also seen a more worrying support for local trade unionists in response; the rise of racism often struggle, most recently visiting junior stoked by sections of the media and doctors on the picket lines at Calow. mainstream politicians as well as by the Our two guest trade union speakers far right. Attacks on Muslims have represent workers who have been at tripled in Britain, in Slovakia an openly the forefront of resisting Tory Nazi party came third in the popular privatisation: Jane Loftus and Tosh vote, in Germany far right groups are McDonald. marching on the streets and there have The refugee crisis and the racist been firebomb attacks on refugee backlash against it has thrown up a hostels. The scenes at Trump election huge challenge for anti-racists in rallies in the USA remind us of the Britain and across Europe and our ability of right wing racists to gain an third guest speaker today Raya Ziyaei is audience. Standing up to racism and one of the many activists who have defending the rights of refugees to dedicated time and effort to delivering sanctuary are key tasks for the whole practical support to refugees. The trade union movement. horrific drownings in the Have a great May Day here in Mediterranean Sea and the shocking Chesterfield. Enjoy the march & rally, images of the young Kurdish child browse the stalls and re-charge your Aylan Kurdi produced a huge batteries for the struggles ahead.

Acknowledgements The Chesterfield & District Trades Council would like to thank all the organisations that give their support to the May Day Gala. At the time of going to print it is not possible to produce a full list of contributing bodies. But without their generosity and solidarity, May Day would simply not be possible. Thanks go to the many scores of volunteers. Their hard work in organising May Day ensures the event runs smoothly. The Chesterfield May Day Gala does great credit to the capacity of the Trade Union and Labour Movement to campaign, inform and entertain. We also thank our speakers for their support and contributions, the many organisations whose involvement gives May Day the breadth of its appeal. We thank you for attending and supporting May Day and maintaining its status as the largest and most popular May Day event in the region, if not the country. James Eaden (President), Joanne Gordon (Vice President), Shay Boyle (Secretary), on behalf of Chesterfield & District Trades Union Council .

5 Tosh McDonald ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!’ That’s what William Wordsworth famously wrote, about the French Revolution, and it’s bliss in this dawn to be alive, too, because these are exciting times for the Labour Party. Because in Jeremy Corbyn we have a leader who believes in the values at the heart of the labour movement and who proposes to run on a platform, in 2020, which will excite those voters put off politics by the focus group obsession of the New Labour years.

‘The Labour Party,’ as Harold Wilson Tosh McDonald once memorably said, ‘is a moral and how we can now put it right. crusade or it is nothing.’ Jeremy understands that and that is why ASLEF We need a Labour government, led by endorsed Jeremy when he was Jeremy, committed to putting our campaigning to become Labour Party fragmented, privatised, old-fashioned leader; why we endorsed Tom Watson railway back together as a modern, as deputy leader; and why we endorsed integrated, and publicly-owned Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London. transport system fit for the 21st century. Jeremy is proud – not ashamed, as We know that privatisation doesn’t some leaders of the Labour Party have work. The model is broken and the been – to talk about public ownership. franchise system is selling Britain – He understands that ordinary people passengers, taxpayers, and those of are suffering in this Conservative Age of who work on the railway – short. In the Austerity that redistributes wealth from last twenty years, since John Major the poorest to the richest to bail out privatised our industry – a privatisation, the bankers, who caused the economic incidentally, which even Margaret crisis – and the financial crash – back in Thatcher described as ‘a privatisation 2008. Jeremy wants to rebuild Britain too far’ – we have seen our rolling as a fairer, more modern society, with a stock get older, our trains get more more productive economy that delivers crowded, and our fares go through the for the many, not just for the few. roof. We now have the highest fares in Western Europe – because of the The railway industry – the industry in Tories’ ideological obsession with which I have worked all my life – is a privatisation. perfect example of what has gone wrong

6 And it’s not just the railway. It’s time to bring back into public ownership not just our railway but all those key parts of the British economy – such as the Royal Mail and the public utilities like gas, water and electricity – which are natural monopolies and which properly belong to the British people. Back in the early 1980s I was living in the pit village of Edlington. Although none of us were miners, we enjoyed that community. Perhaps because Tosh McDonald supporting the Care UK strikers in mining and the railway have been Doncaster. intertwined in this country for a couple Two years ago I attended a number of of centuries. In many towns and commemorations to mark the 30th villages around here, as in Yorkshire, a anniversary of the bitter miners’ strike of lot of young men when they left school 1984-85 but the most moving, for me, would either go down the pit or join was the one in Edlington. Yorkshire the railway. In those days Edlington was Main shut in 1985 and, like many pit a real community. villages, the whole community suffered. The pubs we used to go in are no longer there, the shops are boarded up. The Tories destroyed it. They destroyed the pit, and they destroyed the village, and they destroyed the lives of the people who lived there. Deliberately. As a freight guard, in those days, after the pit shut I worked the last train train out of that pit made up of faulty wagons that had been left there for some time. The yard had been recently relaid and the pit shaft was new. There was plenty of coal there to be dug, and Margaret Thatcher and Ian MacGregor knew it. And still they shut it just like they shut all the others pits in this country. What they did was industrial vandalism on an enormous scale. It was somehow fitting, in a macabre sort of way, that when Kellingley closed, just before Christmas, what started under the Tory government of Margaret Thatcher ended under the Tory government of

7 David Cameron. Because that’s what And when we go to the ballot box – in the boss class, and the Tories, have May this year, and then for the general always been about. election in 2020 – we should remember what the Tories do to our Edlington made national news in 2009 communities and elect Labour when two brothers, aged 10 and 12, councillors, and Labour AMs, and robbed, tortured and attempted to Labour MPs, and then a Labour murder two other boys and nine and government, under Jeremy Corbyn, 11. The then Mayor of Doncaster was which will rebuild this country. criticised, and never sought re-election, and children’s services in Donny came I was born in 1961 and began work on under attack. I’m not saying they were the railway in 1979 as a freight guard at free from responsibility but the Tory Doncaster. I became an NUR rep and government which shut the pit and then, when I became a driver, a tried to destroy that community should member of ASLEF. When I joined the share the blame, along with their railway, I was a member of the National agents at the Coal Board and in the Union of Railwaymen. Obviously, police. because I was a guard. It’s the right thing to be in the right trade union for The good news, though, is that the the job that you do. And the right trade community in Edlington is refusing to union for a train driver is, as it has die. The Yorkshire Main been since 1880, ASLEF. I have been a commemorative trust has set up a member of ASLEF's Executive memorial garden to those who died Committee since 2004 and President down the pit, and organised marches since January 2015. and events so it is never forgotten. And the banner hangs in the library for by Tosh McDonald, future generations to see. President of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union.

Tosh McDonald campaigning to keep our railways public

8 IJ waonulde li kLe oto fthtaunks Chesterfield Trades Council and everyone involved in organising this event. May Day events ensure that International Workers Day is celebrated throughout the UK and the World. Trades Councils across the country work tirelessly with other trade unionists and organisations to raise issues that affect us all. Trades Councils bring together the workplace and social campaigns that highlight injustice in the UK and internationally. At a time when racism and fascism are on the raise and workers terms and Jane Loftus conditions are continually under attack media can bring much needed from the Tory Government, Trades publicity trade union and anti acist Councils can unite these struggles and campaigns. The plight of refugees and deliver solidarity to all involved. While migrants affects us all. How we treat the national news outlets ignore them reflects on our society and by massive demonstrations and fail to supporting these campaigns we can highlight workers struggles, social stop the scapegoating of groups of people being blamed for the ills of capitalism. Across the country thousands are people are fighting austerity and standing side by side with striking workers to stop the Tories destroying workers rights, welfare and pensions, to mention just a few of these attacks. The situation in the NHS highlights the priorities of a Tory government and ignores what the public and NHS workers want now and for the future. Given the recession we have all paid a price for the government and bankers’ failings. But during this time the rich have become richer and the poor, poorer. This cannot continue. The election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour

9 leader has brought opposition politics My union the CWU, to the country rather than consensus Communication politics that favours big business and Workers Union, has regulation. In order to see change we campaigned with its need to unite these struggles, so we members on the can fight the attacks and celebrate the Trade Union Bill victories. Without people in all and the right of localities being engaged in fighting Unions to organise cuts, racism and the attacks on workers and strike to defend members. We have rights we would be in a far worse fought privatisation of Royal Mail and position. continue to fight for a Peoples Post, owned and run in the interest of the public. We are campaigning in the telecommunications sector against regulations that attack BT open reach members. Agency workers rights in casualised workplaces are crucial and trade unions need to organise and recruit these workers. Organising the unorganised strengthens us all. May Day 2016 will be dominated by the EU referendum. The timing of this debate suits Cameron and distracts away from the attacks the government are continuing on ordinary workers at

10 work and in society. Life, struggles and redirected for re-skilling and building attacks will continue during and after an engineering sector solving the the referendum. No matter what side problems of energy supply and you are on or if you are undecided we consumption for future generations. will still need to unite in common The Tory Government should stop course as other campaigns come to the attacking the most vulnerable in our fore. A victory for the doctors is a society as “an injury to one is an injury victory for all NHS workers and for all to all” of us. Together, united in our workplaces and The sort of country and world we live communities we can defeat the Tory in is for us to shape, the priorities of Government's agenda and push back governments can be derailed, the attacks which have benefitted big industries can be nationalised and business and the rich, empowering rejuvenated, tax avoidance can be workers across the world to define a stopped and wages raised and public better future for all its peoples and services funded. Education can be future generations. funded and available for all. People Another World is Possible-join the fight- fleeing war and poverty can be join a union-campaign and fight for a welcomed and embraced into our world free of wars and injustices. society and be valued for the past and future contributions they make to Jane Loftus, society. Billions can be channelled out CWU President of trident and the arms industry and

CWU members on the picket line in Chesterfield

11 Raya Ziyaei Raya Ziyaei is one of a group of driveway leading to a locked garage. To young people who have been the left was an emaciated man carrying organising practical solidarity with a wooden pallet on his back staggering refugees in Northern France. to the camp. The road we walked seemed to be a physical representation In January I travelled with a group of of the divide between ‘normality’ and campaigners and trade unionists to the desperate plight of the refugees. Dunkirk to take solidarity to the refugee camp. We chose Dunkirk, The sides of the path were lined with because it had been hit by the recent tents & people huddled around small floods, and the camp had doubled in fires. Every few steps or so we were size in the previous few weeks. asked by the refugees if the donations were for them. A small child asked if I As we approached the camp to the had any food and a teenage boy right of us stood rows of smart houses, begged me for a blanket. However, we each with a well-kept yard and a

Raya & Rosa on the ferry to Dunkirk to deliver aid to refugees

12 with infected feet because of the wet . He asked for news shoes but we had given them all away. A man in his early 20s told me that he didn’t need clothes, but he was hoping to get something for his brother who had lost his hand through infection. He patiently waited while I searched for jeans and a jumper, and he shook my hand after I had managed to find them. But amidst the desperation and the squalor there is strong community organisation and resistance. There were under strict instructions not to were little ‘pop up’ businesses and give away blankets directly as they were community centres being organised. reserved for newcomers to the camp. On our first day there was a protest Recent floods had devastated the camp, demanding the opening of the borders causing diseases to spread and organised by a Palestinian woman. She obliterating previous donations and the was part of a group of activists in the property of those living there. The camp. Everybody in the camp helped further into the camp we walked the each other in whatever way they could. more desperate the conditions became. In the face of disease, insanitary Mud with the consistency of milkshake, conditions, malnutrition, rose to around ankle height. overcrowding, distress and hatred from When we reached the distribution the state, these amazing people were centre we began to distribute our sticking together. They were cracking goods. A woman in her early 20s took a jokes, cheering when donations come blanket. It was clear she was desperate in, playing games and smiling at each from the look of sheer relief on her other. They are not happy; they are not face. As she left she hugged and shook warm; and they are fighting for hands with many of our group. This survival. And yet they have created a experience was repeated in many society of people in which no one is different ways with different people, alone in the struggle. A society of young and old, throughout our stay. people who understand what they have been through, and most importantly, a A boy around ten years old dropped a society of people who will not back new sleeping bag in the mud, cursing down. to himself as he tried to salvage what he had only recently collected. A girl, Upon leaving we were all faced with no more than two years old, ran one ultimate question: “What is the excitedly to her father with a small long term solution?” There was one sandwich bag holding just five unifying answer — “Open the borders”. chocolates. I met a middle aged man

13 Toby Perkins The EU referendum in June is not just the biggest decision our country has had to face in a generation, but is also the biggest challenge to the trade union movement and its members in the last 30 years. The European Union is far from being a perfect organisation, there are improvements that need to be made to Toby Perkins reduce the EU's democratic deficit, to give voters more say on governance • The right to equal treatment for and to ensure the UK is getting the part-time and agency workers best deal for British workers. But to improve the EU, and to be part of the • The right to be informed and myriad of benefits membership gives consulted on significant changes that us, we have to remain part of the could affect jobs. Union and fight for the improvements • The right to high standards of health from the inside. and safety at work. The Labour movement has always been • Protections from discrimination in an international movement and should the workplace on grounds of sexual embrace and celebrate the hard-won orientation, gender reassignment, workers’ rights we have achieved as age, and religion. part of our EU membership. A recent TUC report showed the following Many of these protections were benefits to workers derived from our negotiated in Europe by a Labour EU membership: government that enjoyed a central role in building a social Europe fit for 21st • The right to a minimum 28 days' Century workers. paid leave each year. Every single worker has benefitted • The right to not be forced to work from being part of the EU, and these longer than 48 hours a week. rights would be put at risk by leaving. • The right to paid time off for The Government are already doing all antenatal appointments; protections they can to undermine workers’ rights - for pregnant women and new attacking trade unions, attacking the mothers in the workplace; up to 18 right to withdraw labour - and the weeks' parental leave and time off politicians and business people for urgent family reasons. advocating the Leave campaign want to take this further. They want to isolate • The right to equal pay for work of us from the rest of the world and to equal value between men and out compete Europe, which they plan women. to do by further eroding the 14 employments rights that were so hard our businesses and workers are won. When many Leave campaigners protected – and costs only 0.5% of speak of "removing red tape" it is these annual GDP. protections they want removing. I am proud that my union, Unite, came I have heard some ambivalence out in support of the Remain regarding EU membership due to campaign, and I hope my comrades scaremongering about the Transatlantic from all the unions will fight to stay in Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) the EU and protect the trade union and the impact it could have on the movement. NHS. Using TTIP as a reason to vote Toby Perkins leave is to misunderstand the government's power to protect the NHS, and actually places our health service at greater risk. The Government has the power to exempt the NHS from TTIP, and if the Tories choose not to do this then how can we believe that they would not seek to privatise NHS services outside of the EU anyway? The EU is not a privatising institution, with many EU countries having far more public involvement and ownership of services than here in the UK. It is right to be concerned about TTIP, but only because the Tory government have failed to confirm the NHS exemption – it is the Tories who threaten the NHS, not the EU. Britain makes the EU more competitive and the EU makes Britain fairer. Our continuing membership provides 3 million jobs and ensures Toby Perkins 15 Stilol guointgh st rYonog arftker stwho yierares o uFr reedom Riders campaign shows that every age group is able to fight for their rights. Free bus travel between 9.30am and 11pm was brought in for elderly and disabled passengers in 2008. A number of areas added extra travel concessions. South Yorkshire allowed pass holders to travel free on trains in South and West Yorkshire and to use passes from 9am. Disabled were able to use passes at any time of day. Freedom Riders on the campaign trail.

Cuts could decide whether or not we would In 2014 the South Yorkshire councils pay. With great cheers we boarded the decided to cut concessionary spending train deciding we would not pay and and to take away all the extra South journeyed through to Meadowhall Yorkshire travel arrangements. They where we met up with pensioners from did this with no publicity or proper across South Yorkshire. consultation. Pensioners in Barnsley called a meeting First Freedom Ride to protest this and 300 turned up to a After a lively debate a massive vote stormy meeting that showed we might decided to have weekly freedom rides. be old but we aren’t prepared to be Our fifth freedom ride found police at walked over. Barnsley station stopping us getting on The South Yorkshire Freedom Riders train to Meadowhall. After a long were formed. We decided to board period of arguing, chanting and singing trains on the first day of the cuts, 31st some of our group walked over the March 2014, at local stations and refuse bridge to the opposite platform. The to pay as we travelled to Meadowhall rest of us joined them. for a rally. A train came in for Huddersfield. We all climbed aboard and had great pleasure Grey power in waving goodbye to the startled Large numbers turned up at Barnsley police who couldn’t understand how station to find it swarming with police we had outwitted them. and Northern Rail management. After that every time we tried to Instead of blocking us they told us that freedom ride the police put a barrier there was confusion about when the round the entire station to stop us but cuts were coming in. So they decided we carried on meeting up and having that it was a ‘discretionary day’ – we demonstrations. 16 Partial victory On 9th May the Passenger Transport Executive announced that they were reintroducing free travel for disabled pass holders at any time of the day and on trains in South and West Yorkshire; elderly pass holders would have half price train travel in South Yorkshire. to spreading support through the trade We were overjoyed to find that after union movement. Unite the Union weeks of being told that we were provided publicity and free legal cover. wasting our time we had forced a climb down. But another mass rally voted for Just before the case came to court all the full return of free train travel for the the charges were dropped as it became elderly and to continue our protests. clear that a number of the BTP had lied. Brutal attack On June 23rd we took a train from The future Barnsley by only paying to go one We carry on campaigning. London, station and then over riding to West Midlands, Liverpool and Sheffield. Manchester all have free train travel for the elderly. We believe that is British Transport Police were out in something that pensioners across the force. At first they kettled us on the country should enjoy. platform in Sheffield. They threatened to arrest a journalist from the Sheffield Last Winter there were 43,000 excess Star under the Prevention of Terrorism deaths due to cold weather. Most Act unless he deleted photos of our pensioners do not have ‘gold plated’ protest. Then the police brutally pensions. The fifth richest country in grabbed and arrested two of the the world should be able to afford protesters. They were bailed to appear dignity and care towards those who in the magistrates court in December spent their working lives contributing with a week of court time put aside for to the country’s economy. charges of resisting arrest and over If you want to link up with our riding. campaign and to find out more A series of mass protests took place. about concession we have won from Links that had already been made with bus companies then email: ASLEF the train drivers union were key [email protected]

17 FREE Concert - MONDAY Here in New Square we’re happy to provide a mixture of music and time across the world there’s even more reason to help each other whatever religion , race or gender and whatever your situation let's through a little music from around the globe! Ian Smith, Music or

Faith and Branko Bikini Beach Band Approx. 12.30pm Approx. 1.40pm Faith and Branko are a passionate, virtuoso UK/Serbian- Roma duo. The duo forms the core of their high energy live act: combining accordion, whistles, vocals, acoustic violin, electric violin, keyboard and effects pedals on a Well here you have it a great fun band journey from melancholy Roma playing Surf Guitar music... its just great violin laments to playful Reggae great fun. Here in Chesterfield you’ll be songs and joyful Kolo dances. transported to Hawaii or maybe you’ll get Gypsy Jazz, Balkan, Classical, a vibe of that great theme from Pulp Swing and Improvisation form fiction... whatever you’ll have a cool time the core of their entirely original in New Square this year! set - which they perform both as 'London’s Kings of Surf Noir...', NME a duo and in collaboration. 'Great musicians with a 'One of the highlights of the Big Chill fascinating stage presence' weekend...(02)', THE TIMES ALEX JAMES, BLUR 'I want their autographs', 'Great fun and really talented' NOEL GALLAGHER LILY ALLEN Website www.bikinibeach.co.uk www.faithibranko.com 18 2nd MAY - New Square d entertainment that brings people together. At this through difficult times. Wherever you may be from, s celebrate our common heritage, that of humanity, rganiser

Bleeding Hearts Approx. 2.50pm

“Folk-Punk for Punk-Folk” Bleeding Hearts have a bucketful of musical emotion, great big tunes and a lot to say. They combine kick-ass riffin' guitars with rousing mandolin melodies, powerful rhythms, and strong multi-harmony vocals shouted and sung with raw passion. Formed and fighting the system since 1995, delivering and keeping it true to the mission statement of ‘alternative music for alternative people’ to underpin a folkypunky sound as an unsigned D.I.Y. collective. The spirit of ’76 lives on in this age of the digital revolution, proving that some bands still like to get out there and do it for real. www.bleedinghearts.co.uk

19 A Cooperative Manifesto for Chesterfield - a work in progress

Where do we want to be by 2030? accountable more open democracy How can poverty be eliminated, with a strong knowledge based social cohesion and economic economy using technology to enhance opportunity enhanced? How can we people’s lives. It means a society of deal with the consequences of artistic endeavour, of cultural diversity conflict abroad or the impacts of economic efficiency with access to climate change so that future parks and recreation that encourage generations can have a decent walking and cycling and reduces health quality of life? How can we seize inequalities. the opportunity of new technologies for the benefit of all? Chesterfield Coop Party is busy developing a To achieve all this our society vision for our future. Here is our should be based on the following work in progress. principles: Societies with • A more equal society that enables strong plans people to fulfil their potential reap the • A prosperous society which is benefits of innovative, productive and low investor carbon certainty as well as the long term • A resilient society which maintains coordination of and enhances a bio-diverse natural things like environment with healthy public transport Mark Grayling ecosystems and carbon • A healthier society in which reduction. Planning society means people’s physical and mental thinking about people’s health, well-being is enhanced education as well housing and transport, it means thinking about how • A society of cohesive society feels, about culture and history communities which seeks to heal as well as economic development. social and sectarian divisions, that promotes and protects culture and More than ever we need a politics of heritage and which encourages hope, a politics committed to people to take part in the arts, sustainable development which and sports and recreation. benefits everyone; an economy with social justice at its heart, a strong more

20 Transport will connect together and A walk through Chesterfield take you to high speed rail. There will as a cooperative community be land available to grow food in allotments and community gardens. in 2030 There will be a community café. There Your home will be warm and secure, will be space to meet and space for powered by renewable energy from a solitude. local community Coop. Chesterfield The neighbourhood you live in will be will be ‘carbon positive’ as it exports built to be resilient to a changing more energy than it uses. Your home climate using sustainable drainage that may have been built, or renovated, by a creates even more space for wildlife. housing Coop that you may well Communities can be made greener by belong to. If you live in new home you growing plants on buildings to reduce may have commissioned it yourself summer temperatures, pollution and playing a role in its design. It will have enhance bird life. Many neighbourhood decent sized rooms with space to eat assets will be held in trust for the your dinner at a table, somewhere for community to help fund the the kids to do their homework and maintenance of the street and enough storage for life’s necessities. community activity over the long term. Your home will have either its own Your neighbourhood will be set within garden or access to a shared garden, a society which has localised and depending on your preference, and the mutualised a large part of the economy building fabric will blend the best of from energy services and transport to new technology with traditional craft food and IT, harnessing the power of design. It will sit on a safe street new technology to make life easier and surrounded by green space and trees more fulfilling for everyone. It will be a for shade, it will have play space so well organised, secure and open that children and pedestrians will come society in which the town is a shared before cars. space for vibrant arts and culture. You will be able to walk to the local The cooperative movement is at the school and shop so buying a pint of cutting edge of social revolution milk will also keep you fit. It will be building a fairer mutualised society great place for bike riders who will from the bottom up. The vision we enjoy safe cycle routes making it easier offer is partly a political choice but it is to take exercise and be healthy with increasingly a practical necessity if we less pollution. It will be rich with are to move away from a future of wildlife, with development enhancing greater poverty, inequality and nature not destroying it. You will be uncontrolled climate change which we able to book a pool car via an App on currently face. your Coop phone whenever you need it or use the tram at the end of street Based on work by Hugh Ellis, and you won’t need to leave the house edited by Ollie Pardo and until you know your tram is on its way Mark Grayling for Chesterfield with real-time travel information. Coop Party.

21 Chesterfield’s other anti-war MP If you ask most people to name the Chesterfield MP most associated with opposing war, the vast majority of people would rightly mention Tony Benn. Tony was a prominent anti-war campaigner and for many years president of the Stop The War Coalition and was associated with pretty much every anti -war and pro peace campaign of recent decades. Very few, if any, would mention the name of George Benson. Yet George Benson, Chesterfield’s longest serving MP, paid for his anti-war principles with his liberty. George Benson won Chesterfield for Labour in 1929. Two years later he was defeated in the Labour rout of 1931, however he won again in 1935 and remained Chesterfield’s MP until he retired in 1964. George Benson died in 1973 at George Benson the age of 84. Penal Reform. Over 20% of all the George Benson’s parliamentary career interventions he made in the House of was unremarkable, perhaps even a little Commons during his 31 years as an MP dull; he did not serve as a minister, was were related to reform of the criminal not known for his speech making and justice system. does not feature in the political Where did this interest come from? histories of the time. He had a Why was George Benson so concerned particular interest in government to protect the rights of young people finances and served on the House of who were caught up in the criminal Commons Public Accounts Committee. justice system? However, one area of policy which The answers to these questions take us appears to have engaged him was the back to George’s experiences as a issue of prison reform and particularly conscientious objector (CO) during the the mistreatment of young offenders. First World War and his involvement in He was an active campaigner for the the infamous “Birkenhead Case” where abolition of the death penalty and of allegations of torture and mistreatment corporal punishment– flogging was still of three COs, Charles Dukes, George used in the criminal justice system at Benson and George Beardsworth the time. He served for many years as became a nationally notorious case. director of the Howard League for

22 George came from Disley on the original non-combatant status. On the Derbyshire/Cheshire border. His father 14th of September he was arrested, Thomas was a prominent figure in the forcibly enlisted and sent to the socialist Independent Labour Party Birkenhead army camp which already (ILP), and George became an active had a reputation for “dealing with” member. Many ILP members took an COs. anti –war position in 1914, and this Like many other forcibly enlisted COs was to lead George to being a CO and George refused to participate in any of to his role in the Birkenhead Case. the military training expected of Many COs used religious principles as recruits. This open defiance was the the basis for their refusal to be trigger for the violence and abuse combatants, however left wingers such carried out by the full time Non as George argued on anti-imperialist Commissioned Officers who were in and internationalist grounds. Although charge of training them and by other all COs faced a tough time, recruits egged on by the NCOs and international socialists such as George officers. George and the other two were often treated more harshly. COs in the case, Charles Dukes and Conscription was introduced in Britain George Beardsworth, demanded that as in February 1916. In May George went soldiers (they had after all now been up before the local recruitment enlisted into the army) they should be tribunal in his home town of Disley subject to trial by a Court Martial for who granted him a “non–combatant breach of military discipline. But the certificate”. This meant that George officers in charge of the Birkenhead would be conscripted, but would carry camp denied them their legal right, and out a non-combatant role such as a simply believed they could be beaten medical orderly. George however was into submission. an “absolutist” i.e. he wanted to refuse How then did the Birkenhead case any form of conscription, so he become public? Although much of the appealed the decision. Unsurprisingly abuse took place within the confines of the appeal tribunal refused his appeal, the barracks, recruits were also taken but also as punishment removed his to a local park for training, and it was here that the attacks on the three were witnessed by the wife of a local MP who happened to be passing by. Her husband then raised the issue in parliament. The case was also taken up by socialists, trade unionists and anti-war activists in the North West. Eventually the authorities had to concede their right to a Court Martial and George and the other two were eventually sentenced to two years. On his George Benson’s appeal 23 release from prison George was still a the Chesterfield Labour Party? There is conscripted soldier and he was sent to a snippet in Hansard in 1930 which a non-combatant unit where he served records George recounting his CO past out the rest of his military service in a debate on the treatment of former before being discharged from the army COs. The Hansard record shows in 1920. George being attacked by Tory MPs and also suggests that he was heckled as he George resumed his political activities spoke. In his speech he challenges a and stood for the first time as the Tory antagonist to come and stand Labour candidate for Chesterfield in against him in Chesterfield and makes 1923 and eventually won the seat in the claim that being a former CO was 1929. worth an extra 5000 votes to him. Was A number of interesting questions this simply bravado from George, a remain about George, his experiences claim made in the heat of the moment as a CO and his politics, which merit of a fractious debate, or was he right? If some further research. How much did so it might shed interesting light on people in Chesterfield know about his attitudes towards the Great War and experiences as a CO? How open was COs in working class communities in George about his past? Was his track the inter-war period. record as a CO a help or a hindrance Sue Owen to him being selected as a candidate by

The Courage of Conscience project was initiated by Propeace Chesterfield and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to research the almost forgotten stories of Derbyshire’s conscientious objectors and other resistors to armed conflict during the First World War. The research has been used in school projects & as inspiration for young writers. There will be an exhibition showing the history of the Derbyshire COs and a free event with refreshments to celebrate the work of the children and young writers on Thursday 23rd June, 6.00 p.m. in the Donut Centre, Springbank Road in Chesterfield. To book your place please text Sue Owen on 07768 927669 or phone 01246 271650. Email [email protected] http://propeacechesterfield.wordpress.com/courage-of-conscience

24 International Solidarity in the Great Miners' Strike Support for the 1984-85 miners’ strike was truly remarkable across all sections of UK society. Journalists on the Daily Mirror, who had previously donated £1,000 to the Miners’ Solidarity Fund, twinned with Hawthorn Colliery, near Sunderland, and donated £660 in October 1984; in Wales the churches played an important role through the Welsh Congress, and in towns and cities up and down the country, miners’ support groups quickly sprung up. The Indian Workers Association organised collections and fundraisers. In Camden alone the IWA raised £100,000 and IWA Scotland presented Ayrshire miners with £1,200 worth of food for their families in October 1984. Union branches like Camden NALGO Pit Closures movement in the face of twinned with Bentley Colliery in the onslaught by the Thatcher South Yorkshire. government, which deployed the power of the state against them. On Fleet Street, as well as the vigorous attempts by print workers to challenge But this inspiring story of the scale and the media bias of the proprietors scope of international support for the through the ‘right of reply’, they also year-long UK miners’ strike remains produced two Right Of Reply specials largely unknown to the wider public. It which sold widely and raised was one virtually ignored by the UK thousands of pounds, and collections media at the time, except in the left raised another £1.5m for the striking press and the NUM’s The Miner. miners. PIT PROPS: Music, International But there was another remarkable Solidarity and the 1984-85 Miners’ dimension to this solidarity and Strike attempts to redress that gap. support for the miners – the truly Every country in Europe supported the global support from people and miners’ strike, except Albania. Money organisations which flowed into the flowed in from all over the world, and NUM and mining communities. sometimes not money. The NUM in Internationally people were inspired by Sheffield took delivery of bags of the tenacity and determination of the walnuts from Indian miners too poor striking miners and the Women Against to donate cash, and the New Zealand

25 seamen’s union donated 19,100lbs of New Zealand lamb in September 1984. What I and Nick Jones, the former BBC Radio Labour Correspondent, try to do in our chapters in PIT PROPS is pay tribute to those who organised the amazing flow of money, food, clothes, toiletries, and in the run-up to Christmas Donation from Finnish trade unionists to the the striking miners 1984, toys, which flooded into the coal field visited Japan and his account of the communities in the UK. A ship support he received during a hectic chartered by the Danish seamen’s two-week tour of Japan was union docked in Hull in December astounding. “The solidarity that I 1984 with 50,000 toys in addition to witnessed changed my opinion of much needed clothes, whilst in Japanese workers and industry,” he Scotland Augustine Dufresne, General said. Secretary of the French union, CGT, On 12 February 1985, as an was with Mick McGahey distributing international march set off from part of a £1m toy consignment County Hall, London, for Dover Dennis contributed by French trades unionists. Skinner, the Labour MP for Bolsover, One of the people interviewed for the was blunt when he spoke to the book is John Burrows, then Treasurer marchers: ‘We could not have existed of Derbyshire NUM and now leader of for 11 months without tremendous Chesterfield Borough Council. He financial support from all over the world.’ The global scale of international solidarity for the miners is an inspiring story that, in these fractured times, needs to be more widely known. Buy PIT PROPS online from www.cpbf.org.uk or you can buy the book from With Banners Held High c/o 24 Tower Avenue Upton near Pontefract West Yorks WF9 1EE. Send cheques for £12.99 inc P&P made out Swedish locomotive workers who each pledged to to With Banners Held High. contribute 100 Kroner (approximately £10) for as long as the strike lasted. Granville Williams 26 A May Day Evening to Celebrate the Solidarity of the Great Miners’ Strike: Sunday 1st May 2016, Chesterfield Library Lecture Theatre from 7pm. • “UNDERMINED”: A one storytelling. With a classic man show by Danny soundtrack, one chair and a Mellor pint of beer, Danny Mellor "Inspired by the accounts of presents a youthful and miners who lived through contemporary approach to the strike, Undermined one of Britain's most depicts a year where controversial disputes. friendships were Undermined is a reminder of strengthened and how much things have and communities came together. haven’t changed." Experience the events • WITH BANNERS HELD through the eyes of young HIGH: A short film miner Dale, as he takes you celebrating the 84/85 strike through his personal story inviting you into the action. • INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY & THE This one-man show explores MINERS STRIKE the humour and struggles of the miners' strike through With John Burrows, Maureen energetic and gripping Featherstone & Granville Williams.

Entry is free but you must reserve tickets c/o Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centres, No.1. Rose Hill East, Chesterfield S40 1NU. Telephone: 01246 231441 E-mail: [email protected]

27 Unite in Sports Direct - Shirebrook Project The project, founded on traditional trade union values of solidarity and equality for all workers was initiated in order to overcome language barriers, local fear, prejudices, halt exploitation, assist in community integration and support continued organising of the site at Sports Direct of over four thousand migrant workers. Sadly the workers, mainly from Poland, Cheryl Pidgeon with some of the Unite language tutors. Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech searches in their own time after work, Republic have little or no receiving “strikes” ( disciplinary understanding of their rights at work sanctions) for the most spurious of here in the UK and as such are subject reasons e.g. – talking to colleagues, to isolation and prejudice in the work spending too much time at the toilet, place and in their communities. Many taking time out for children’s of the workers are actually nurses, emergency illness. Appropriate health engineers, carers and other highly and safety at the warehouse is woefully skilled professionals yet their path to lacking. The workers are managed by such work and integration within the fear and the agencies are more local communities is hampered by lack interested in profit than people. of English language skills. Gaining trust and confidence from the Working conditions at Sports Direct: workers has taken time and massive The majority of workers are on zero effort involving: UNITE Sports Direct hours contracts, minimum wage and ESOL team, brilliant volunteer treated appallingly including daily body facilitators, community and industrial

28 branches, and of course the students English or had limited English themselves. Monthly days of action, language skills and many had no idea thousands of multi-lingual pieces of what a UK trade union was. targeted literature, open days, Introduction to the world of UK work, information, guidance & advice health and safety and the benefits of sessions, and now the English lessons belonging to UNITE is a gentle, patient have assisted with the building of trust and supportive process and thankfully and confidence. Also developing our now many students are joining UNITE understanding within UNITE of how each week and some are now enrolling we can help workers. We now have to come along to train as reps! 8 weekly English classes in Shirebrook, This has been one of the most Mansfield and Nottingham with over rewarding pieces of work I have had 120 students attending within just the privilege of undertaking. The 5 weeks of opening the classes. people I have met are some of the Many workers are living and working in kindest, friendliest, most hard working hellish conditions. Often ripped off by I have ever come across. I thank unscrupulous landlords, they are up at everyone that has been involved in the 4 am to get / walk miles to work for 6 project to date- they have been utterly am. They finish at 3 pm and then walk amazing. If anyone wishes volunteer to to take part in an English class with assist in the project going forward UNITE for another two hours. Prior to please contact me on the classes the students did not speak [email protected]

29 Thompsons are proud to work with trade unions and have worked to promote social justice since 1921.

MayDaygreetings from Thompsons For more information about Thompsons visit www.thompsons.law.co.uk or call 0808 100 8050

Thompsons Solicitors is a trading name of Thompsons Solicitors LLP and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Picture credits from left to right. W.H. Thompson. ‘No Redemption’ by Keith Pattison. © Stefano Cagnoni/reportdigital © John Harris/reportdigital © Hein du Plessis © Rod Leon

30 Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team’s Panel Solicitors DAST’s panel solicitors are no cost. If the claim is successful the victim Thompsons, OH Parsons & Graysons. will retain 100% of the compensation. We act predominately for trade union We do also represent non-union members members. We only act for the injured claimants who have suffered injury or or mistreated and refuse to represent mistreatment in their employment. In the insurance companies and employers. absence of union funding, insurance will We are proud of our links with trade be arranged by the acting solicitor. unions. Trade unions helped establish Some union solicitors deduct up to 25% DAST and without that support they could from the victims compensation (in respect not exist today, to provide support to of general damages for pain and suffering anyone in the region diagnosed with an and past losses). This is known as a asbestos related disease. success fee. So there is a risk that 100% Asbestos victims are entitled to know that compensation may be a thing of the past the firm they instruct is not representing for some lung cancer, asbestosis and employers and insurers acting against pleural thickening victims. other injured people. DAST’s panel solicitors do not charge any We have run countless landmark cases and success fees. secured key legal reforms. We have Trade union firms give victims the best specialist, dedicated teams dealing only possible chance of success with asbestos claims. Unions maintain asbestos exposure A free, independent and specialist l databases. Memories fade of places and egal service circumstances surrounding exposure. Asbestos diseases have long latency People lose touch with work colleagues periods between exposure and the onset when they change employer or move of symptoms. Because of this long period away. Unite’s Asbestos Exposure Database unions have pledged to stand behind their alone contains details for more than former members. Free union legal help 12,000 members. We have access to this is available in asbestos claims, not only bank of crucial potential witness to current union members but also to information. retired and former members, who were In shipbuilding, car manufacturing, railway members when they were exposed to carriage works, mines and many other asbestos. sectors of industry a union closed shop This ensures that former union members operated until the late 1970’s. As such and their families continue to benefit from there is a strong presumption of trade a free, independent and specialist legal union membership in those industries service. from that time. We believe that union firms are better placed to act in the When the claim is supported by a interests of those asbestos victims and union there is no need for the victim to their families because of the support take out costly legal expense insurance. available from union witness contacts and We will continue to deal with lung cancer, the wealth of experience dealing with asbestosis and pleural thickening claims at previous similar claims.

31 Shock deaths amongst former Staveley Chemical workers The Trade Union Safety Team (TRUST) are investigating a Research in progress potential ‘cluster’ of brain cancers TRUST has also begun to look into the amongst former Staveley Chemical processes and chemicals used at the workers. Staveley plant. Talking to former colleagues of the men who died of the rare brain cancers, TRUST is aware that Brain cancer deaths there was limited personal protective During the summer of 2015 Jacqui equipment and little information given Collis and Audrey Musson called in at about the dangers of hazardous the TRUST office, asking for help to chemicals. investigate the deaths of their husbands As part of our in-depth research we will due to a rare and incredibly aggressive also look into possible causes of this brain cancer, Glioma. They also knew rare brain cancer, including any two other widows whose husbands had exposure to hazardous substances such worked at Staveley Chemicals and had as known carcinogens like benzene died of the same cancer, all were and mercury. between the ages of 49 and 69.

The appeal Unique service TRUST is unique in undertaking victim- TRUST put out an appeal for other led research studies; previously cases which attracted media attention undertaking a study into the range and resulting in 6 confirmed cases of brain incidence of ill-health of former plastic cancer. TRUST is also investigating the chemical workers from Vinatex. death of another worker due to a Therefore, they have already elicited different form of brain cancer. support from a Professor of Stirling Having done some initial research we University who has agreed to have found that in the normal undertake a lay epidemiological study. population, 8 in every 100,000 people It is important that we undertake a would be expected to die from this thorough investigation to determine if rare condition. Here we have at least there are links between work at five in a localised vicinity. This, Staveley Chemicals and the rare brain together with the fact that the men cancers. We are committed to finding died within a few years of each other, answers for the families affected by the makes it very unusual. tragic deaths of their loved ones. If you would like to find out more information about the project please contact TRUST on 01246 380415

32 Asbestos: The hidden threat in many school buildings Asbestos is a killer, yet it can still be found in 80% of Derbyshire Schools. This is why the Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team (DAST) have designed an interactive programme to highlight to school staff where they may potentially find asbestos in their school and what action to take if it is DAST's mock up of a school building showing potential asbestos hazards. damaged. The devastating effects of asbestos The scale of the problem exposure Exposure to asbestos can cause DAST have increasingly seen school terminal lung cancer, Mesothelioma, staff diagnosed with Mesothelioma. even at lower levels. Despite this, 335 David Brown was a head teacher in a out of 413 schools in Derbyshire still Staffordshire school. Like many have asbestos in their buildings. This is teachers he was often putting up a similar pattern nationally. The displays and decorations in the school Department of Education’s best corridors, as well as being involved estimate is that over 75% of schools with repairs including inspecting any contain asbestos. work to be carried out in the boiler room. David developed Mesothelioma It is of great concern that so much in 2014 aged 64. asbestos is in our schools. Both the primary and secondary schools I attended in Derbyshire contain Taking Action asbestos. Although Derbyshire County This is why DAST have developed our Council have assured parents that interactive model “Take Notice of regulations are adhered to and that Asbestos” . It contains useful children are safe, DAST feels that there information about where asbestos may should be more information and be found and what to do if school staff awareness about asbestos in schools. believe asbestos is a threat. There is The problem is that children may knock also an accompanying information against walls and columns releasing booklet. asbestos dust. Moreover, if doors or For copies of the Booklet and windows are slammed and the Programme which is available on surrounds contain asbestos, then memory stick, please contact DAST asbestos fibres can be released into the on 01246 380415. atmosphere. 33 Wortleyo Harll Ctolnfeerenyce/ HHolidaya Celntlre

Wortley Hall sends May Day Greetings to the Chesterfield & District Trades Union Council, and to all those who participate in the May Day Rally and Gala

Wortley Hall is now owned and controlled by its Shareholders who are all members of the wider Labour, Trade Union and Co-operative movement.

Wortley Hall supports the Labour and Trade Union and Co-operative movement. - why not support Wortley Hall?

For further information contact reception on 0114 288 2100 Fax: 0114 283 0695 Email: [email protected] or visit our website www.wortleyhall.org.uk President: Steve Parkin Political Secretary: Pat Peters

h Morning Sfor pteaace anr d socialism The Morning Star is the only daily newspaper owned and controlled by its readers within the Labour, Trade Union, and Co-operative Movement.

The Morning Star can be purchased daily from any newsagent priced at £1. The paper is also on display within Chesterfield Library on a daily basis. daily paper of the left h

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35 THE PEOPLE’S ANTHEMS THE RED FLAG THE INTERNATIONALE The people’s flag is deepest red. Stand up all victims of oppression It shrouded oft our martyred dead. For the tyrants fear your might And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold Don't cling so hard to your possessions Their hearts’ blood dyed its ev’ry fold. For you have nothing if you have no rights Let racist ignorance be ended Chorus : For respect makes the empires fall Then raise the scarlet standard high! Freedom is merely privilege extended Within its shade we’ll live or die; Unless enjoyed by one and all Tho’ cowards flinch and traitors sneer, We’ll keep the Red Flag flying here. Chorus: So come brothers and sisters With heads uncovered swear we all For the struggle carries on To bear it onward til we fall. The internationale Come dungeon dark or gallows grim, Unites the world in song This song shall be our parting hymn. So comrades come rally Chorus: For this is the time and place Then raise the scarlet standard high! The international ideal Within its shade we’ll live or die; Unites the human race Tho’ cowards flinch and traitors sneer, And so begins the final drama We’ll keep the Red Flag flying here. In the streets and in the fields We stand unbowed before their armor We defy their guns and shields When we fight provoked by their aggression Sheffield Let us be inspired by like and love For though they offer us concessions Socialist Choir Change will not come from above

- Come and hear us sing! Performing at 1.00pm in the Assembly Rooms

Designed by North East Derbyshire District Council 36